About The Center For Sickle Cell Disease

History

Dr. Roland B. Scott, a pediatrician and allergy expert, gained international prominence as an authority on sickle cell disease and a champion in the fight against it. Dr. Scott was a driving force behind the Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act of 1971, which established comprehensive research and treatment centers around the country for the disease.

Dr. Scott, who was Chairman of Pediatrics at Howard University in Washington from 1949 to 1973, was trained as an allergist but turned his attention to sickle cell anemia in the 1950's after he noticed a high number of African-American children appearing in the Howard Hospital emergency room with complications of the disease. Through his research, Dr. Scott became a pre-eminent authority on sickle cell disease, a hereditary blood disorder, and lobbied for a national research and treatment effort.

In 1972, with a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Scott founded the Howard University Center for Sickle Cell Disease. He was the director of the Center until 1990, when he retired. Because of the efforts of Dr. Scott and others, the federal government now spends about $45 million a year on sickle cell disease and sponsors the operation of 10 comprehensive treatment and research centers.